The LuLac Edition #3386, December 26th, 2016

MOVING ON 2016

Our "Moving On" logo.

Once more we feature some notable passings of 2016. This is a mix of political, sports and pop culture icons. (Source: wikipedia, LuLac archives).

JANUARY

Mario Cuomo, three term Governor of New York, proposed Presidential candidate, outstanding orator, and defender of the Democratic policies regarding equality for all. He is the of current New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and CNN anchor Chris Cuomo.
Judge Gifford S. Cappellini passed away early in the year. Cappellini presided as Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Luzerne County from 1985-2005, and completed his exemplary career as Senior Judge. Earlier during his legal career, Cappellini was Senior Partner at Cappellini, Reinert, Cardone, Law Firm, Wilkes-Barre. He served as Wilkes-Barre City Solicitor, and Prothonotary for Luzerne County, and was a life member of the Pennsylvania and Luzerne County Bar Associations.
Marilyn Moore Maslow, 83, was noted along with her husband, Richard, for her philanthropy and community service throughout Northeast Pennsylvania.
Lennie Bluett, 96, American actor (Gone with the Wind, Mighty Joe Young, A Star is Born)
Dale Bumpers, 90, American politician, Governor of Arkansas (1971–1975), Senator from Arkansas (1975–1999
Brad Fuller, 62, American video game composer (Marble Madness, Tetris, Blasteroids), Director of Engineering for Atari (1993–1996), pancreatic cancer.
Robert Stigwood, 81, Australian band manager (Bee Gees, Cream) and film producer (Grease, Saturday Night Fever, Evita).
Alfredo "Chocolate" Armenteros, 87, Cuban trumpeter, prostate cancer.
Douglas Greer, 94, American actor (Our Gang).
Pat Harrington, Jr., 86, American actor (One Day at a Time, Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels, The Inspector), complications from a fall and Alzheimer's disease.
Florence King, 80, American writer.
Kitty Kallen, 94, American singer ("Little Things Mean a Lot").
Ed Stewart, 74, British TV and radio broadcaster (Top of the Pops, Crackerjack), stroke.
David Bowie, 69, English singer-songwriter, musician ("Space Oddity", "Heroes", "Starman"), and actor (Labyrinth, Zoolander), liver cancer.

Monte Irvin, 96, American Hall of Fame baseball player (Newark Eagles, New York Giants, Chicago Cubs), winner of the 1954 World Series.

 Luis Arroyo, 88, Puerto Rican baseball player (St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Yankees), winner of the 1961 World Series, cancer.
Jim Simpson, 88, American sportscaster (NBC Sports).

Tera Wray, 33, American pornographic actress, suicide.
Franco Citti, 80, Italian actor (The Godfather, Accattone, The Decameron.
René Angélil, 73, Canadian entertainment manager (Celine Dion), throat cancer
Alan Rickman, 69, English actor (Harry Potter, Die Hard, Love Actually), pancreatic cancer.

Noreen Corcoran from her "Bachelor Father Days along with Jasper the dog.

 Noreen Corcoran, 72, American actress (The Girls on the Beach, Gidget Goes to Rome, Bachelor Father), cardiopulmonary disease.
Dan Haggerty, 74, American actor (The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams), spinal cancer.
Gary Loizzo, 70, American singer (The American Breed), pancreatic cancer.
Ted Marchibroda, 84, American football player (Pittsburgh Steelers, Chicago Cardinals) and coach (Baltimore Colts, Baltimore Ravens
Dale Griffin, 67, British drummer (Mott the Hoople), Alzheimer's disease.
Glenn Frey, 67, American songwriter, musician (Eagles) and actor (Jerry Maguire), complications following intestinal surgery.

 Lou Michaels, 80, American football player (Los Angeles Rams, Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Colts), pancreatic cancer.
Cadalack Ron, 34, American rapper.

Walt Williams, 72, American baseball player (Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees), heart attack. He had the greatest nickname, "No neck".
Theodore Karras, 81, American football player (Chicago Bears), NFL champion (1963).
Abe Vigoda, 94, American actor (The Godfather, Barney Miller, Late Night with Conan O'Brien).
Paul Kantner, 74, American musician (Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship) and songwriter ("Wooden Ships"), multiple organ failure.
Betty Francis, 84, American baseball player (AAGBPL)
Ron Stillwell, 76, American baseball player (Washington Senators), cancer.
Barney Hall, 83, American sports commentator (Motor Racing Network), complications from surgery.
Michael Fedderson (known as Mike Minor, was an American actor probably best known for his role as Steve Elliott on Petticoat Junction (1966–1970).

Minor was born on December 7, 1940 in San Francisco to television producer Don Fedderson and Tido Minor.
Minor played the character Steve Elliott on Petticoat Junction in seasons four through seven (1966–70). His character, a pilot, crashed his airplane in Hooterville, then recovered and later married Betty Jo Bradley.

From left to right, Lori Saunders, Meredith MacRae, Minor, Bea Benaderet, and Edgar Buchanan. 

Seasons 6 and 7 of the series focuses on the couple and their newborn daughter Kathy Jo Elliott. It has been erroneously reported in many sources that Minor sang the series' title song; in fact, it was sung by Curt Massey, the series music composer who co-wrote the song with show creator and producer Paul Henning.
Among his other television credits were The Donald O'Connor Show (1968 version), The Beverly Hillbillies, CHiPs, Vega$, and L.A. Law.
In the 1970s, Minor took on daytime television. He had some brief roles on The Edge of Night and As the World Turns. In the 1980s, he appeared as Brandon Kingsley on All My Children (1980–1982) and as Dr. Royal Dunning on Another World (1983–1984).
Minor had made two albums, including This Is Mike Minor (1966), and numerous singles, including the successful "Silver Dollar" and "One Day at a Time".
Minor sang the theme song ("Primrose Lane") on season one of the Henry Fonda television series The Smith Family.

FEBRUARY

Joe Dowell, 76, American pop singer ("Wooden Heart"), heart attack. This song was a hit in Europe for Elvis Presley but ignored in the U.S. by his manager. The organist is Ray Stevens.

Maurice White, 74, American songwriter and musician (Earth, Wind & Fire), complications from Parkinson's disease.

Edgar Mitchell, 85, American astronaut (Apollo 14).
Johnny Duncan, 92, American actor (Batman and Robin)
Tom Tigue…..Thomas Tigue, a longtime state lawmaker, passed away this year.
Tigue, a Democrat, served 12 terms in Harrisburg, representing parts of Lackawanna, Luzerne and Monroe counties.
The Pittston Area Primary School lowered the American flag to half-staff Monday in memory of Tigue. The longtime state representative served in Harrisburg for 25 years, but not before first serving on the Pittston Area School Board.
Andrew L. Lewis, Jr., 84, American business executive and politician, Secretary of Transportation (1981–1983), complications of pneumonia.
Brock Pemberton, 62, American baseball player (New York Mets).
Nelle Harper Lee, better known by her pen name Harper Lee, was an American novelist widely known for To Kill a Mockingbird, published in 1960. Immediately successful, it won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize and has become a classic of modern American literature. Though Lee had only published this single book, in 2007 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her contribution to literature. Additionally, Lee received numerous honorary degrees, though she declined to speak on those occasions. She was also known for assisting her close friend Truman Capote in his research for the book In Cold Blood (1966). Capote was the basis for the character Dill in To Kill a Mockingbird.
Tony Phillips, 56, American baseball player (Oakland Athletics, Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox), World Series champion (1989), heart attack
Archie Lang, 95, American actor (Dallas, General Hospital.
Charlie Tuna, 71, American radio personality.
Kevin Collins, 69, American MLB baseball player (New York Mets, Montreal Expos, Detroit Tigers
Jack Lindquist, 88, American child actor and theme park executive, President of Disneyland (1990–1993.
George Kennedy, 91, American actor (Cool Hand Luke, The Naked Gun, Airport), Oscar winner (1968), heart disease.
Craig Windham, 66, American radio broadcaster (National Public Radio), pulmonary embolism.

MARCH

Coca Crystal, 68, American television personality and political activist.
Gayle McCormick, 67, American singer (Smith), cancer.
Martha Wright, 92, American actress (South Pacific, The Sound of Music, Goodyear Television Playhouse) and singer.

James Barrett McNulty, 71, American politician, Mayor of Scranton, Pennsylvania (1982–1986), cancer and cardiac disorder.

Bud Collins, 86, American sports journalist.
Nancy Reagan, 94, American First Lady (1981–1989) and actress (Hellcats of the Navy, Donovan's Brain, The Next Voice You Hear...), heart failure.
Sir George Martin, 90, British Hall of Fame record producer (The Beatles), composer, arranger and engineer, six-time Grammy Award winner.

Robert Horton, 91, American actor (Wagon Train).
Gary Jeter, 61, American football player (Los Angeles Rams, New York Giants.
Clyde Lovellette, 86, American basketball player (Minneapolis Lakers, St. Louis Hawks, Boston Celtics), NBA champion (1954, 1963, 1964), Olympic champion (1952), cancer.

Bill Wade, 85, American football player (Los Angeles Rams, Chicago Bears), NFL Champion (1963).
Keith Emerson, 71, English progressive rock and rock keyboardist (The Nice; Emerson, Lake & Palmer), suicide by gunshot.

Gogi Grant, 91, American pop singer ("The Wayward Wind").

Bill Whitby, 72, American baseball player (Minnesota Twins).
June Peppas, 86, American AAGPBL baseball player (Kalamazoo Lassies).
Frank Sinatra, Jr., 72, American singer (That Face!) and actor (Hollywood Homicide), heart attack.


Ralph David Abernathy III, 56, American politician, member of the Georgia House of Representatives (1988–1992) and State Senate (1992–1998), liver cancer.
Bandar bin Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, 90, Saudi royal.
Rob Ford, 46, Canadian politician, Mayor of Toronto (2010–2014), liposarcoma.
Joe Garagiola Sr., 90, American baseball player (Cardinals, Cubs, Pirates) and Hall of Fame sportscaster (MLB GOTW), World Series champion (1946).

Ken Howard, 71, American actor (1776, The White Shadow, J. Edgar, Crossing Jordan), President of SAG/SAG-AFTRA (2009–2016), Emmy winner (1981, 2009).
Jimmy Riley, 68, Jamaican reggae musician, cancer.
Earl Hamner, Jr., 92, American television writer and producer (Falcon Crest, The Waltons, The Twilight Zone), cancer.
Garry Shandling, 66, American comedian, actor and writer (The Larry Sanders Show, Iron Man 2, Over the Hedge), heart attack.

Mother Angelica, 92, American Poor Clare nun, founder of the Eternal Word Television Network.
Toni Grant, 73, American radio host and psychologist.
Patty Duke, 69, American actress (The Miracle Worker, The Patty Duke Show, Valley of the Dolls), President of SAG (1985–1988), Oscar winner (1962), sepsis.
Bill Robinson, 87, American football player Green Bay Packers.

David Baltimore, A World War II veteran, Baltimore was regarded as one of the pioneers of area TV broadcasting.
David went into the business founded by his father, Louis, WBRE-AM & FM in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. But he realized that the new, exciting medium would be television and so with a loan from RCA he established WBRE-TV, which went on the air New Year's Day, Jan. 1, 1953. WBRE-TV, a UHF station and NBC affiliate, would become the world's first 1-million watt then 5-million watt television station. As an engineer, technology was extremely important to him so color television was added and he challenged RCA to develop equipment that made operations easier, like the first video cartridge tape machines.
WBRE-TV flourished despite the rise of cable television which began in WBRE-TV's coverage area. So David spent an inordinate amount of time fighting for proper protections for over-the-air broadcasters at the FCC, National Association of Broadcasters and anywhere he could find an audience. Through a chance meeting in France at an international programming conference, David became instrumental in bringing the Smurfs to the U.S. In 1984, WBRE-TV was sold to Northeastern Television Investors and David retired.

APRIL

George Curry, 71, American football coach.
Marjorie Peters, 97, American baseball player .
Frank Wainright, 48, American football player (Miami Dolphins, Baltimore Ravens), NFL champion (2000)
Merle Haggard, 79, American singer-songwriter ("Okie from Muskogee", "The Fightin' Side of Me", "Carolyn"), Grammy winner (1984, 1998, 1999), complications from pneumonia.
Blackjack Mulligan, 73, American professional wrestler (WWWF, JCP, CWF.
Elizabeth Roemer, 87, American astronomer.
Scooter, 30, American cat, oldest living cat.
Prince Rogers Nelson was an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He was a musical innovator who was known for his eclectic work, flamboyant stage presence, extravagant dress and makeup, and wide vocal range. His music integrates a wide variety of styles, including funk, rock, R&B, new wave, soul, psychedelia, and pop. He has sold over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time. He won seven Grammy Awards, an American Music Award, a Golden Globe Award, and an Academy Award for the film Purple Rain. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, his first year of eligibility. Rolling Stone ranked Prince at number 27 on its list of 100 Greatest Artists, "the most influential artists of the rock & roll era."
Will Smith, 34, American football player (New Orleans Saints), Super Bowl champion (2010), shot.
Paul Carey, 88, American radio broadcaster (Detroit Tigers).
Anne Jackson, 90, American actress (The Shining, Folks!, Dirty Dingus Magee)
Bryce Jordan, 91, American academic administrator, President of the Pennsylvania State University (1983–1990.)
Spec Richardson, 93, American baseball executive (Houston Astros).
Jackie Carter, 62, American children's author, lymphoma.
Billy Paul, 81, American R&B singer ("Me and Mrs. Jones"), pancreatic cancer.

Milt Pappas, 76, American baseball player (Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs)
Martin Fitzmaurice, 75, English darts personality.

McKinley aka Mr. Puppy; nearly 18, the official mascot of the LuLac Political Letter. Cancer.

MAY

Abel Fernandez, 85, American actor (The Untouchables, Pork Chop Hill) He was the only cast member from the original Untouchables lineup in the series' 1959 "Scarface Mob" pilot, other than Robert Stack himself, to be cast for the series. 

His character was based on that of William Jennings Gardner, a Native American member of the real-life Untouchables federal squad.
Marianne Gaba, 76, American model and actress (Missile to the Moon, The Choppers, The Beverly Hillbillies) She was Miss Illinois USA 1957[2] and Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for its September 1959 issue.
Bob Bennett, 82, American politician, U.S. Senator from Utah (1993–2011), pancreatic cancer and stroke.

Candye Kane, 54, American blues singer-songwriter and pornographic actress, pancreatic cancer.
John Young, 67, American baseball player (Detroit Tigers), founder of Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities.
Mark Lane, 89, American lawyer and author (Rush to Judgment), heart attack.
Oya Aydoğan, 59, Turkish actress, model and television presenter, aortic aneurysm.
André Brahic, 73, French astrophysicist, discovered rings of Neptune, canc
Guy Clark, 74, American folk singer-songwriter ("Desperados Waiting for a Train", "Workbench Songs", "My Favorite Picture of You"), Grammy winner (2014), cancer.

Jim Ray Hart, 74, American baseball player (San Francisco Giants) He played for the National League's San Francisco Giants from 1963 to 1973 and the American League's New York Yankees in 1973 and 1974. Hart batted and threw right-handed. In a 12-season career, Hart posted a .278 batting average, with 170 home runs and 578 runs batted in (RBIs) in 1,125 Major League games played.
Morley Safer, 84, Canadian-born American journalist (60 Minutes), pneumonia.
Alan Young, 96, English-born Canadian-American actor (Mister Ed, The Time Machine, DuckTales)
Tom DeLeone, 65, American football player (Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals), brain cancer.
Joe Fleishaker, 62, American actor (Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV, Late Show with David Letterman), heart attack.
John Webster, 60, British theologian.
Marshall "Rock" Jones, 75, American bass player (Ohio Players).
Bonnie Law, 47, Hong Kong singer and actress (Happy Ghost)

JUNE

Donny Everett, 19, American baseball player (Vanderbilt Commodores), drowned
Willis Pyle, 101, American animator (Pinocchio, Bambi, Mr. Magoo.)
Muhammad Ali, 74, American boxer, Olympic gold medalist (1960), three-time WBC world heavyweight champion (1964, 1974, 1978), septic shock.
Habib, 63, Iranian singer, heart attack.
Margaret Vinci Heldt, 98, American hairstylist, creator of the beehive hairstyle.
Chico Fernández, 84, Cuban baseball player (Detroit Tigers), complications from a stroke.
Curley Johnson, 80, American football player (New York Jets), Super Bowl winner (1969)
George Voinovich, 79, American politician, Senator from Ohio (1999–2011), Governor of Ohio (1991–1998), Mayor of Cleveland(1980–1989)
Randy Jones, 72, British-born American jazz musician (Chet Baker, Dave Brubeck, Maynard Ferguson)
Chips Moman, 79, American songwriter ("(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song") and record producer, Grammy winner (1976)
Ronnie Claire Edwards, 83, American actress (The Waltons, The Dead Pool, Designing Women. She acted professionally from 1963 and is best known for the role of the domineering Corabeth Walton Godsey, the wife of storekeeper Ike Godsey played by Joe Conley, in the CBS television series The Waltons, created by Earl Hamner, Jr. She played Charlene's mother, Ione Frazier, on two episodes of CBS's Designing Women. Edwards played Aunt Dolly in Hamner's series Boone, which aired on NBC from 1983–84. She co-starred in the NBC series Sara (1985) opposite Geena Davis..
Ann Morgan Guilbert, 87, American actress (The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Nanny, Grumpier Old Men), cancer.
Henry McCullough, 72, Northern Irish guitarist (Spooky Tooth, Wings, The Grease Band).
Ron Lester, 45, American actor (Varsity Blues, Popular, Good Burger), liver and kidney failure
Bernie Worrell, 72, American musician (Parliament-Funkadelic), lung cancer.
Jim Hickman, 79, American baseball player (New York Mets, Chicago Cubs).
Scotty Moore, 84, American guitarist (Elvis Presley band).
Buddy Ryan, 85, American football head coach (Philadelphia Eagles, Arizona Cardinals) and defensive coordinator (Chicago Bears, Houston Oilers.
Pat Summitt, 64, American basketball coach (Tennessee Lady Volunteers), dementia.

JULY

Roscoe Brown, 94, American World War II veteran, member of the Tuskegee Airmen”.
Kyle Calloway, 29, American football player (Buffalo Bills), struck by train.
Jack C. Taylor, 94, American billionaire businessman, founder of Enterprise Rent-A-Car”.
John McMartin, 86, American actor (Sweet Charity, Kinsey, Law & Order), cancer.
Danny Smythe, 67, American drummer (The Box Tops).
Norman Abbott, 93, American television director (Leave It to Beaver, Welcome Back, Kotter, The Jack Benny Program).

John Brademas, 89, American politician and educator, member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Indiana's 3rd district(1959–1981), President of NYU (1981–1991Brademas holds the distinction of being the first Greek-American member of Congress, preceding, among others, Olympia Snowe, Paul Tsongas and Paul Sarbanes.
Marion Campbell, 87, American football player and coach (Philadelphia Eagles, Atlanta Falcons)

Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel was a Romanian-born American Jewish writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor. He was the author of 57 books, written mostly in French and English, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.
Mel Durslag, 95, American sportswriter
George Wesley, whose decades-long career saw him play with the likes of the Wailers and the Jerry Garcia Band, has died.
"We are devastated to report that we lost an amazing and wonderful man today. George Wesley passed away peacefully July 19, 2016, at 5:00 a.m. after a short battle with liver cancer," reads a message on his website.
Wesley, of the Scranton area, and his band played with The Wailers, Jimmy Cliff, Black Uhuru, Matisyahu, Culture, Mykal Rose, Judy Mowatt, Merl Saunders, Jerry Garcia Band, Santana, Tim Reynolds (of the Dave Matthews Band) and Itals, among others. In October, the George Wesley Band was voted "Best Jam/Reggae/Funk Band " at The Steamtown Music Awards.
Peter LaForce Grady, 91, of Mount Pocono, died Wednesday, July 6, 2016. He was a reporter for the Scranton Tribune from 1970 until 1990 when that paper closed its doors. He also worked for the Metro in Scranton as a reporter.
Wendell Anderson, 83, American politician, Governor of Minnesota (1971–1976), Senator for Minnesota (1976–1978), Olympic silver medalist in ice hockey (1956), pneumonia.
Fred Tomlinson, 88, British singer (The Two Ronnies, Monty Python's Flying Circus), composer ("The Lumberjack Song") and critic.

Julius Freeman, 89, American fighter pilot (Tuskegee Airmen), recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal, heart attack.

Shawshank tree, c. 180, North American white oak featured in The Shawshank Redemption.
Steve Nagy, 97, American baseball player (Pittsburgh Pirates, Washington Senators).
Marni Nixon, 86, American singer (The King and I, West Side Story, My Fair Lady) and actress (The Sound of Music), breast cancer.
James M. Nederlander, 94, American Broadway theater owner and producer (Nederlander Organization)
Forrest Mars Jr., 84, American billionaire businessman (Mars, Incorporated), heart attack.

Sylvia Lucia Petronzio, better known as Sylvia Peters, was an English actress, and from 1947 to 1958 a continuity announcer and presenter for BBC Television. She introduced the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, and later advised the Queen as she prepared for her first televised Christmas Message in 1957.
Doug Griffin, 69, American baseball player (Boston Red Sox).
Pat Upton, 75, American singer-songwriter (Spiral Starecase)

Gloria DeHaven, 91, American actress (Summer Stock, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Out to Sea), complications from a stroke.

AUGUST

David Huddleston, 85, American actor (The Big Lebowski, Blazing Saddles, Santa Claus: The Movie), heart and kidney disease.,
Pete Fountain, 86, American clarinet jazz legend.
Peter Paul Brennan, 75, American Old Catholic prelate, Archbishop of New York.
Terence Bayler, 86, New Zealand actor (Monty Python's Life of Brian, Time Bandits, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
John Saunders, 61, Canadian-born American sports journalist (ESPN, The Sports Reporters) and broadcaster (ESPN on ABC.
Glenn Yarbrough, 86, American folk singer ("Baby the Rain Must Fall", "It's Gonna Be Fine", "San Francisco Bay Blues")

Jack Riley, 80, American actor (The Bob Newhart Show, Rugrats, Spaceballs), pneumonia. 

Choo Choo Coleman, 78, American baseball player (New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies), cancer.
Charlie Sands, 68, American baseball player (Pittsburgh Pirates, California Angels).
Steven Hill, 94, American actor (Mission: Impossible, Law & Order, The Firm).
Juan Bell, 48, Dominican baseball player (Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Phillies, Milwaukee Brewers), kidney illness.

Marvin Kaplan was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1927. He is probably best known for his recurring role on the sitcom Alice where he portrayed a phone lineman named Henry Beesmeyer who frequented Mel's diner. He was with the cast from 1977 until the series ended in 1985. His first film role was as a court reporter in Adam's Rib (1949).
Kaplan had a regular role in the radio sitcom and later television version of Meet Millieas Alfred Prinzmetal, an aspiring poet-composer. The program ran from 1951-54 on radio and continued on television from 1952-56. In addition, the actor was the voice of Choo-Choo on the 1960s cartoon series Top Cat and had a small role in the 1963 film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World playing a gas station attendant. He co-starred in the 1965 comedy The Great Race. In 1969, he appeared as Stanley on Petticoat Junction in the episode: "The Other Woman".
Joe DeMaestri, 87, American baseball player (Philadelphia/Kansas City Athletics, New York Yankees)
John McLaughlin, a former Roman Catholic priest who became an aide to Richard M. Nixon in the White House and parlayed his fierce defense of the president into a television career as host of “The McLaughlin Group,” the long-running Sunday morning program of combative political punditry, died on Tuesday at his home in Washington. He was 89. The columnist Eleanor Clift, a longtime panelist on the show, wrote in The Daily Beast that he had been treated for prostate cancer for some time and that it had spread. Mr. McLaughlin had been absent from the show the week before he died for the first time in more than 34 years.
Joy Browne, 71, American talk show host.
Darrell Ward, 52, American reality television personality (Ice Road Truckers), plane crash.
Gene Wilder, 83, American actor (The Producers, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Young Frankenstein), screenwriter and author, complications of Alzheimer's disease.

SEPTEMBER

Fred Hellerman, 89, American folk singer (The Weavers), guitarist, producer and songwriter.
John Hostetter (was an American actor, voice artist, and visual artist who was perhaps best known for his role as John, the stage manager on the fictional FYI news magazine, on the CBS sitcom Murphy Brown; he appeared in 62 of the series' 247 episodes from 1988-98 He was raised in Hanover, Pennsylvania.
Dabney Montgomery, 93, American pilot (Tuskegee Airmen), bodyguard of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Brenda Dale Knox was known professionally as The Lady Chablis, was an American actress, author, and drag performer. Through exposure in the novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and its 1997 film adaption she became one of the first drag performers to be accepted by a larger audience.
Greta Zimmer Friedman, 92, American dental assistant, subject in V-J Day in Times Square photo.

Maurice William Elias, better known as James Stacy, was an American film and television actor. In 1973, Stacy was hit by a drunk driver while driving his motorcycle, resulting in the amputation of his left leg and arm and the death of his girlfriend. He returned to acting in 1975 before retiring in 1991. In 1966, he appeared in the final episode of Perry Mason as actor and murder victim Barry Conrad in "The Case of the Final Fade-Out".
Fred Quillan, 60, American football player (San Francisco 49ers), NFL champion (1981, 1984)
Bob Wilkinson, 88, American football player (New York Giants), Parkinson's disease.
John D. Loudermilk, 82, American singer and songwriter ("Tobacco Road", "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye", "Indian Reservation"), bone cancer.
Richard D. Trentlage, 87, American advertising executive and jingle writer (Oscar Meyer, V8, National Safety Council) , heart failure. Trentlage also wrote jingles for McDonald's ("McDonald's is your kind of place!"), the National Safety Council ("Buckle up for safety, buckle up!") and V8 ("Wow! It sure doesn't taste like tomato juice.")

José Fernández, 24, Cuban-born American baseball player (Miami Marlins), boat collision.
Curtis Roosevelt was an American writer. He was the son of Anna Roosevelt and her first husband, Curtis Bean Dall. He was the eldest grandson of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
Toughie was the last known living Rabbs' fringe-limbed treefrog. The species, scientifically known as Ecnomiohyla rabborum, are thought to be extinct in the wild with only one specimen – Toughie – remaining in captivity, up until his death on September 26, 2016.
Agnes Nixon, 93, American television writer and producer (One Life to Live, All My Children, Guiding Light).
Shimon Peres, 93, Polish-born Israeli statesman, President (2007–2014), Prime Minister (1977, 1984–1986, 1995–1996), Nobel Laureate (1994), stroke
Thomas Larkin Malloy was born in New York City. His acting career began in 1974. He appeared (and later starred) in such soap operas as The Edge of Night as (Jefferson Brown (1980-81)/Schuyler Whitney (1981-84).
James Stephen "Jim" Zapp, nicknamed "Zipper", was an African American outfielder who played in the Negro Leagues and minor leagues from 1945 to 1955. Spending the majority of his career with the Baltimore Elite Giants, Zapp is described as an above-average power and contact hitter.
Nora Dean, 72, Jamaican singer.

Arnold Daniel Palmer was an American professional golfer who is generally regarded as one of the greatest players in the sport's history. Dating back to 1955, he won numerous events on both the PGA Tour and the circuit now known as PGA Tour Champions. Nicknamed The King, he was one of golf's most popular stars and its most important trailblazer, the first superstar of the sport's television age, which began in the 1950s.
Palmer's social impact on behalf of golf was perhaps unrivaled among fellow professionals; his humble background and plain-spoken popularity helped change the perception of golf as an elite, upper-class pastime to a more populist sport accessible to middle and working classes.

OCTOBER

Sir Neville Marriner, 92, British conductor (Amadeus), founder of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.
Peter Allen, 96, American radio broadcaster, host of Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts (1975–2004.
Don Ciccone, 70, American singer-songwriter and musician (The Critters, The Four Seasons, Tommy James and the Shondells. He wrote "Mr. Dieingly Sad", produced by Artie Ripp, which reached #17 for the group. After he quit the Critters, he joined the U.S. Air Force and served during the Vietnam War. Ciccone sang lead vocals on the Four Seasons hit "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)".

Aaron Pryor, 60, American light-welterweight boxer, WBA/IBF world champion (1980–1985), heart disease.
Molly Rose, 95, British World War II aviator. Rose joined the Air Transport Auxiliary on 16 September 1942 and delivered 486 aircraft during World War II.
Tom Hayden, 76, American writer, politician and activist (Chicago Seven), member of the California State Senate (1992–2000).
Bobby Vee, 73, American pop singer ("Rubber Ball", "Take Good Care of My Baby", "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes") and actor, Alzheimer's disease.


Norman Brokaw, 89, American talent agent (Marilyn Monroe, Clint Eastwood, Andy Griffith).
Samuel Liguori, 78, local radio legend, who served Northeastern Pennsylvania as a well-known, highly respected and professional radio personality, passed away peacefully at his home .
Sam Liguori .was in broadcasting for more than 33 years - program director at 1240 AM WBAX for more than five years; operations manager at WARD 1550 AM for 15 years; program director at WKQV 1550 AM and WKQV FM for one year; and producer for talk shows at WARM 590 AM for two years.
Sam has worked hard in all phases of broadcasting, doing formats from talk to all-music, and also news and sports. During the Agnes Flood of 1972, Sam was the last employee out of WBAX in Edwardsville when the waters surrounded the station. He gave out vital information so people in the area knew when to evacuate. Sam was known for helping to collect more than $65,000 for the new Salvation Army Citadel in the 1960s by taking pledges over the air.
During the '60s, '70s and '80s, Sam was doing the "Gibbons Polka Weekend Show" on WBAX and WARD radio. This was the original Polka Weekend show. Remotes were done every week and during the summer to promote funding for churches, volunteer fire companies and other non-profit organizations. Sam also did live remote broadcasts from the "Cherry Blossom Festival" on the River Commons in Wilkes-Barre. Sam was also known as "Maverick" on the country music shows.
Tammy Grimes, 82, American actress (The Unsinkable Molly Brown, High Spirits, Look After Lulu!) Her ABC TV series aired during the 1966–67 season and was one of the few prime time series of the era canceled after only four episodes.
Athena Smith Ford, 33, passed away peacefully in Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton. Athena died in the arms of her brother, Austin (Mountain Top), with her mother, Diane Smith (Kingston), father, Tom Ford, and stepmother, Maureen Cosgrove (Mount Pocono), at her bedside. Athena died of complications from an automobile collision on Oct. 7, 2015, when she was a seat-belted passenger and suffered a traumatic brain injury. Athena never regained consciousness. Athena was a regular attendee at Blogfest and was involved with the Pennsylvania Health Access Network.

NOVEMBER

Ralph Branca, 90, American baseball player (Brooklyn Dodgers, Detroit Tigers).

Bob Woody and your blog editor circa 1988 shortly before a news conference.

Bob Woody, 73, cancer. I was in Washington, D.C. at school when “The Woody Guy” arrived at WARM Radio in late 1972. My late friend Joey Dellarte spoke in excited tones when he went on to describe Woody’s antics. At first I thought that he was going to be just another transient afternoon jock coming WARM’s way and then moving on to bigger and better things. But I was wrong.
Woody not only became a presence in local radio but also in my life as well. Woody was passionate about everything, his radio jobs at WARM, WSCR, WBAX, 13Q, WNEP and then at WILK. Woody also hosted “Comedy Classics” om WNEP TV and was instrumental in working with the late Harry Chapin working on drives for the hungry and homeless.
I became associated with a project called The Twin Valleys with Woody. The concept was to try and bring the two big areas together (Luzerne and Lackawanna counties) in one unified effort. It was a nice idea but even though Woody’s concept was short lived, his message to me about work ethic stuck. It was:
1. Always know what you don’t know.
2. When you give your word, it is a commitment. A bond.
3. Dare to do the unexpected.
I’m still working on the third one but I have pretty much tried to live by these rules.
Bob Woody came to this area as a deejay on the radio, he left as much more and subsequently is remembered as an icon in not only broadcasting but integrity.
Sharon Jones, 60, American singer (Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings) and actress (The Great Debaters, The Wolf of Wall Street), pancreatic cancer.

Melvin Laird, 94, American politician and writer, Secretary of Defense (1969–1973), complications of respiratory failure. . Laird was instrumental in forming the administration's policy of withdrawing U.S. soldiers from the Vietnam War; he invented the expression "Vietnamization," referring to the process of transferring more responsibility for combat to the South Vietnamese forces.
George Ortiz, 45, American hair stylist (Project Runway), suicide.
Gwen Ifill, 61, American journalist (PBS NewsHour, Washington Week), endometrial cancer.
Dick Oliver, 77, American journalist (New York Daily News, WNYW), complications from a stroke.
Robert Vaughn, 83, American actor (The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Magnificent Seven, Hustle), acute leukemia.
Russ Nixon, 81, American baseball player (Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians) and manager (Atlanta Braves)
Leonard Cohen, 82, Canadian singer-songwriter ("Hallelujah", "Suzanne", "First We Take Manhattan"), poet and novelist (Let Us Compare Mythologies, Beautiful Losers), complications from a fall.

Julie Gregg was an American television, film and stage actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Sandra Corleone in The Godfather. Gregg's first television role was in 1964 as a nurse in McHale's Navy.
Janet Reno, 78, American lawyer and politician, U.S. Attorney General (1993–2001), Parkinson's disease.
Dolores Klosowski, 93, American baseball player (Milwaukee Chicks. A member of a champion team, Dolores Klosowski had a brief career in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League after she fractured a leg during her rookie season and never fully recovered.
John Orsino, 78, American baseball player (Baltimore Orioles) He played for the San Francisco Giants (1961–1962), Baltimore Orioles (1963–1965), and Washington Senators (1966–1967).
Mark Taimanov, 90, Russian Soviet-era chess grandmaster and concert pianist, USSR chess champion(1956)
Fidel Castro, 90, Cuban politician, Prime Minister (1959–1976), President (1976–2008).
Ron Glass, 71, American actor (Barney Miller, Firefly, Deep Space), respiratory failure.
Florence Henderson, 82, American actress (The Brady Bunch) and singer, heart failure.
William Marx “Bill” Mandel was an American broadcast journalist, left-wing political activist, and author, best known as a Soviet affairs analyst. Considered a leading Sovietologist during the 1940s and 1950s, Mandel was a fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, but lost his position there due to the political pressures of the McCarthy era. He is perhaps best known for standing up to Senator Joseph McCarthy during a televised 1953 Senate committee hearing in which Mandel pointedly told the senator, "This is a book-burning! You lack only the tinder to set fire to the books as Hitler did twenty years ago, and I am going to get that across to the American people
Joe Esposito, 78, American author and publisher, road manager for Elvis Presley.
Leon Russell was an American musician and songwriter who was involved with numerous bestselling pop music records over the course of his 60-year career. His genres included pop, rock, blues, country, bluegrass, standards, gospel and surf records, with six Gold Records to his credit.


His collaboration records rank as some of the most successful and as a touring musician, he performed with hundreds of Hall of Fame artists. He recorded 33 albums and at least 430 songs.He wrote "Delta Lady", recorded by Joe Cocker, and organized and performed with Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour in 1970.More than 100 artists have recorded his "A Song for You" (1970).
As a pianist, he played in his early years on albums by the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean. On his first album, Leon Russell, in 1970, musicians included Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr and George Harrison. One of his biggest early fans, Elton John, said Russell was a "mentor" and "inspiration". They recorded The Union in 2010, which was later nominated for a Grammy.

Dick Logan, 86, American football player (Green Bay Packers)
Grant Tinker, 90, American television executive, CEO of NBC (1981–1986).
Bernard Gallagher, 87, British actor (Casualty, Crown Court, Downton Abbey.

Ted Twardzik, the founder of Mrs. T’s Pierogies died this year. His was a story of success and determination.
In 1952, Ted decided to return home to Shenandoah to pursue his entrepreneurial dream to start a food company using his mother Mary's recipe for pierogies. He remembered how popular the traditional Polish dumplings were at Church Festivals and thought people would buy them at a grocery market. To honor his mother, the brand became Mrs. T's.
Ted started with five women around the kitchen table in his mother's home at 218 N. Main St., Shenandoah. It wasn't long before he had worn out his welcome in his mom's kitchen and decided to move production to Mrs. T's current location at 600 E. Centre St., Shenandoah. This was a homecoming for Ted as this location was his childhood home and his parent's tavern.
Gene Guarillia was an American basketball player who played four seasons for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

He attended Holy Rosary High School. Guarilia played freshman basketball for Potomac State College, a junior college in Keyser, West Virginia. He established a State Conference freshman record by scoring 595 points in 1953.

Guarilia was selected by the Boston Celtics in the second round of the 1959 NBA Draft. Guarilia appeared in 129 games for the Celtics over four seasons (1959–1963), averaging 3.2 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. He earned four NBA championship rings in his brief career.

DECEMBER

Andrew Sachs: British actor Andrew Sachs, famous for his role as bumbling waiter Manuel in British TV show "Fawlty Towers", has died at the age of 86, the UK's Press Association reported. (Below Sach's is pictured in the middle of Michael Palin and John Cleese.)

Sachs was reported to have suffered from vascular dementia for four years before his death. He was buried on December 1.
Chef Peng Chang-kuei, the chef behind one of America's most popular Chinese food dishes has died. He was 98 when he died on Nov. 30 from pneumonia, according to the Epoch Times. Peng first made General Tso's chicken in the 1950s, when he was working as a chef for the Taiwanese government, according to Taiwan Business Topics. When U.S. Navy Admiral Arthur W. Radford visited Taiwan in 1954 to lead a summit of high-ranking government officials, Peng decided to expand on the usual banquet menu. One of his innovations, a breaded and stir-fried chicken dish in a sweet and spicy sauce, was so popular that the chef was asked what it was called. On the spot, Peng coined "General Tso's Chicken." 

Michael James Delligatti, Creator of the Big Mac, Dies at 98. In April 1967, hamburger lovers in Uniontown, Pa., south of Pittsburgh, met a newer, bigger burger. Introduced by a local McDonald’s, it was called the Big Mac, and for 45 cents it delivered, as a 1970s jingle would have it, “two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame-seed bun.” Response was positive. 

A year later, the Big Mac was on the menu at McDonald’s restaurants all over the United States. By 1969, it accounted for 19 percent of the company’s total sales. Today, the company sells about 550 million Big Macs annually in the United States alone, and millions more in 100 countries around the world.

Keo Woolford, a Detective on ‘Hawaii Five-O,’ died at 49. Woolford play a policeman/detective who arrested the main character Steve McGarrett.
Don Calfa, 76, American actor (The Return of the Living Dead, Weekend at Bernie's, Me, Myself and I.
Joe McKnight, 28, American football player (New York Jets), shot.
John Montague, 87, Irish poet.
Nola Ochs, 105, American centenarian, world's oldest college graduate.
John Glenn, 95, American astronaut (Mercury-Atlas 6) and politician, U.S. Senator from Ohio (1974–1999).

Joseph Mascolo, 87, American actor (Days of Our Lives, The Bold and the Beautiful, Jaws 2), complications from Alzheimer's disease.
Greg Lake, 69, English singer and musician (King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer), cancer.

Margaret Whitton, 67, American actress (Major League, The Secret of My Success, Steaming), cancer.
Van Zandt Jarvis Williams was an actor best known for his television role as Britt Reid/the Green Hornet and his earlier leading role as Kenny Madison in both Warner Bros. television detective series Bourbon Street Beat (1959) and its sequel, Surfside 6 (1960). Those shows were produced by William T. Orr whose job it was at Warner Brother was to develop TV shows for the fledgling ABC network. Quinn Martin later known for his work in “The Fugitive” cut his teeth on these shows. He teamed for one season with the late Bruce Lee as his partner Kato, in the television series The Green Hornet, broadcast on ABC during the 1966–67 season.

Cast of Bourbon Street Beat: Andrew Duggan, Arlene Howell, Van Williams and Richard Long.

Cast of Surfside 6: Margarita Sierra, Troy Donohue, Lee Patterson, Diane McBain and Van Williams.

Ken Hechler, 102, American politician, U. S. Representative from West Virginia's 4th congressional district (1959–1977), Secretary of State of West Virginia (1985–2001), stroke. He was the only sitting Congressman at the time to march with Dr. Martin Luther King in Selma in 1965.
Harry Jones, 71, American football player (Philadelphia Eagles), heart attack..
Bob Krasnow, 81, American record label executive (Elektra Records), co-founder of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[26]
Joe Ligon, 80, American gospel singer (Mighty Clouds of Joy)
Jim Lowe, 93, American singer-songwriter ("Green Door")

Konrad Reuland, 29, American football player (Baltimore Ravens), brain aneurysm.
E. R. Braithwaite, 104, Guyanese novelist (To Sir, With Love) and diplomat.
Alan Thicke, an actor best-known for helping set a template for parenting ideals in the ’80s sitcom “Growing Pains,” died this month. He was 69.
His death was confirmed with the Times on Tuesday evening by the publicist of his son, pop-soul singer Robin Thicke.
Norman Lear hired Thicke to produce and head the writing staff of Fernwood 2-Night, a tongue-in-cheek talk show based on characters from Lear's earlier show, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.[6] In the late 1970s, he was a frequent guest host of The Alan Hamel Show, a popular daytime talk show on Canadian TV, usually hosted by Alan Hamel. Thicke went on to host his own popular talk show in Canada during the early 1980s, called The Alan Thicke Show. The show at one point spawned a prime-time spinoff, Prime Cuts, which consisted of edited highlights from the talk show. Thicke was later signed to do an American syndicated late-night talk show, Thicke of the Night.
Thicke had a successful career as a TV theme song composer, often collaborating with his then-wife Gloria Loring on these projects, which included the themes to the popular sitcoms Diff'rent Strokes and The Facts of Life. He also wrote a number of TV game show themes.
Craig Sager, 65, American sportscaster (NBA on TNT), leukemia.

Bernard Fox, the mustachioed actor known to TV viewers as Dr. Bombay on Bewitched and Col. Crittendon on Hogan's Heroes, has died. He was 89.
Harlan Boll, a spokesman for Fox's family, said he died Wednesday of heart failure at a Los Angeles-area hospital.
The Welsh-born actor's extensive, wide-ranging film and TV credits included The Mummy, Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, The Dyke Van Dyke Show, McHale's Navy and Columbo.
He appeared in both 1997's Titanic, playing Col. Archibald Gracie, and in a 1958 movie about the ship tragedy, A Night to Remember. He had an uncredited role in the latter, playing a sailor who delivers the line, "Iceberg's dead ahead, sir!" according to his family.
The actor spoofed his portrayal of the warlock physician Dr. Bombay on a 1989 episode of Pee-wee's Playhouse, appearing as Dr. Jinga-Janga.
On Hogan's Heroes, he played the incompetent Crittendon, a Royal Air Force group captain referred to as the colonel.
Henry Heimlich, 96, American physician and inventor of the Heimlich maneuver, complications from a heart attack.
Biagio Dente,  Before there was The Food Network, local residents had Biagio Dente. Every morning after the 8:30 news, like clockwork on the Mighty 590, WARM, Biagio Dente and WARM jocks, Harry West, Len Woloson, or Terry McNulty would verbally spar with the Pittston Chef. Dente bought that time spot for years on WARM Radio to promote his business and in the process became part of those storied WARM years. Dente's famous sign off line was "Buon Appetito!!!" Dente passed away last week at the age of 78 in Florida.
Zsa Zsa Gabor was 99. She was a Hungarian-American actress and socialite. Her sisters were actresses Eva and Magda Gabor.
Gabor began her stage career in Vienna and was crowned Miss Hungary in 1936. She emigrated from Hungary to the United States in 1941 and became a sought-after actress with "European flair and style" and was considered to have a personality that "exuded charm and grace". Her first film role was a supporting role in Lovely to Look At. She later acted in We're Not Married! and played one of her few leading roles in the John Huston-directed film, Moulin Rouge (1952). Huston would later describe her as a "creditable" actress. 

Phil Gagliano, 74, American baseball player St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox. Gagliano was a key reserve for the '67 Cardinals Championship team.
Dick Latessa, 87, American actor (Hairspray; Promises, Promises; Stigmata.
Piers Sellers, 61, British astronaut and meteorologist, pancreatic cancer.
Joey Boots, 49, American radio show personality (The Howard Stern Show.
Rick Parfitt, 68, British singer, songwriter and guitarist (Status Quo), infection.

George Michael, the velvet voiced English songwriter who sold tens of millions of albums as a member of the duo Wham! and on his own, was found dead on Sunday at his home in Goring in Oxfordshire, England. He was 53. Michael’s death was not viewed as suspicious even though he had fought addictions and had health issues. Here’s one of his classics from the Wham years.

Duck Edwing, 82, American cartoonist, Mad Magazine. (death announced on this date)
Carrie Fisher, 60, American actress (Star Wars, When Harry Met Sally...), novelist and screenwriter (Postcards from the Edge), complications from a heart attack.

Ricky Harris, 54, American comedian and actor (Heat, Dope, Everybody Hates Chris), heart attack.
Debbie Reynolds, the wholesome movie ingénue in 1950s films like “Singin’ in the Rain,” “Tammy and the Bachelor” and “The Tender Trap,” died Wednesday, a day after the death of her daughter, the actress Carrie Fisher. She was 84.
Her death was confirmed by her son, Todd Fisher, The Associated Press said.
Ms. Reynolds was taken to a Los Angeles hospital on Wednesday afternoon amid reports that she had suffered a stroke. According to TMZ, she had been at the home of her son discussing funeral plans for Ms. Fisher, who died on Tuesday after having a heart attack during a flight to Los Angeles last Friday.
“She’s now with Carrie and we’re all heartbroken,” Mr. Fisher said from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where his mother was taken by ambulance, The A.P. said. He said the stress of his sister’s death “was too much” for his mother.

Chris Cannizzaro, 78, American baseball player (New York Mets, San Diego Padres), emphysema.(death announced on this date).
Robert L. Hulesman, he was in the inventor of the plastic solo cup that I understand is popular among college age students.
H. Jeremy Packard, 78, of Kingston, was the longtime president of Wyoming Seminary Preparatory School and also served as chair of the Luzerne County Election Board.
Allan Williams, 86, English businessman and promoter (The Beatles) Williams booked the Beatles in their initial Liverpool dates and even drove them to Germany for their gigs there.
Tommy Wisbey, 86, English criminal, participant in the Great Train Robbery (1963), stroke.
William Christopher, 84, American actor (M*A*S*H; Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.), small-cell carcinoma.